Big Man

Yesterday was pretty mellow. So mellow that I am finding it hard to remember what I did during the day. Let’s see…

Ah yes. I went to the Institute early because I had to go to a meeting. When I got there, I was only needed for a total of 5 minutes and since I hadn’t considered what to do with the rest of my day, I just researched a variety of things for the Scotland trip, as well as a mean recipe for dinner, until my Philosophy class.

I forgot to mention that before the meeting, Matt and I had to go get tickets for the Wilco concert at the actual venue. While we were leaving the ticket booth, we walked past this woman who was holding her child up and lifting his or hers legs up in order to allow for her to pee perfectly into a rain gutter. I’m talking like a stream of pee was flinging through the air into the drain. That would never fly in America—no pun intended.

Philosophy finally arrived and my teacher makes me a little uncomfortable. I won’t get into that, though. There are only 5 of us in the class and homeboy (the teacher whose name I cannot pronounce) expects a lot out of us. It’s mostly heavy questions and empty silences.

In other news, I made the dankest dinner last night. I didn’t want to trek all the way back to the pension and then go out to eat, so instead I trekked to the grocery store with my ingredients for Lemon Pasta Something or another. The first obstacle I had to overcome was trying to find everything in the Czech language. Luckily, I Google-translated everything, but cream cheese was just a bit more challenging than the other stuff.

I got back to the Institute, brewed my lemon cream cheese pasta extravaganza (which made angels sing when it touched your tongue), and then headed back home. I practically sprinted on my way back because it was dark and rainy outside- the perfect formula for a horror film. At one point, I went upstairs and found some people playing cards. I convinced them to change the game to Asshole and then everything got a bit more intense. I went from asshole to President by the time we finished playing and let me tell you, it was an epic journey. Anyways, the moral of that story is that I began to drink and was ready to go out for some more. Finally, we all decided to hit up Puerto Rico for just a little while.

When we got there, we ran into two guys from our program so we all joined a table. I was drinking a Mojito but before I knew it, it was gone. Oy vey. But the conversation we were having was so funny that I didn’t want to leave yet, so of course, I had to get another drink. I bought a daiquiri next. This lead to me discussing senior week stories. Memorieeeees. The best part about all of this is what I learned about everyone else. Technically, we were playing Truth or Dare, but no one wanted to do dares because if they declined it, they would have to get a zit (courtesy of Jennie Cohen), therefore, we just played Truth.

We all went back a little while after the original curfew we gave ourselves. You can’t put a stop to good conversation, can you? Zach and James have been documenting every night with a video in the bro pad upstairs. I was lucky enough to guest star in last night’s episode. Stay tuned.

This morning, I had to go in early again for a meeting. It was about the Paris trip that I am going on this weekend with the fashion students. I’m pretty excited for it; however, I don’t think I’m very prepared for how much it will end up costing me. Prague is so cheap that I am getting severely spoiled by living here. I noticed that when I was looking for places to stay in Scotland, I was so dissatisfied by the prices because in the Czech Republic, I am a king among kings. Or queens. Whatever.

I had my Czech class and learned a new phrase.

Ten muz ma maly problem. It means, “This man has a small problem.” I don’t understand why she decided to teach us this phrase in particular, but we all giggled like middle schoolers. Later in the class, the teacher (whose name I can pronounce- Lenka) was talking about a bar called “Small Glen” (except in Czech). I asked her if Small Glen had a small problem in Czech.

And now I’m sitting here doing laundry. This laundry place is filled with Americans who I assume are also studying abroad. I was planning on striking up a conversation, but I accidently fell asleep instead. When I woke up, they were gone.

Tonight I am going to a Wilco concert. Gahhhhhhhh. Put THAT into your laundry machine and wash it. I am going with Matt and this dude from NYU that we met in Cesky Krumlov. Look forward to that sweet blog tomorrow.

I am a hot mess at this whole blogging thing this week. I apologize.

So, the Wilco concert was LEGIT. They didn’t allow smoking in the main venue space. I don’t know why that’s the first comment I had to make about it, but I felt that it was a small step for humanity, but a leap for mankind (is that how the phrase goes?). Anyways, the guitarist looked exactly like Art, so that became my main source of entertainment. Wilco played just about every song I know by them. Dannyboy Friedman- their live version of Via Chicago was deadly.

I can’t think of any good stories from during the day. I am in a pattern of going to the institute, eating lunch (I’m still living off of my pasta), going to class all afternoon, and then going out to dinner. Oh wait just a second! Yesterday, I went to the City of Prague Museum with my History of Fashion Class. We went to a 3D showing of a paper model of the entire city. I have never been so tripped out before. We took a little gander throughout the entire city. We saw some skulls and shit, too. Not too shabby.

Here is the highlight of my week: Today in Czech class, we were learning how to say, “I am looking for…” Well, the teacher said, “how do you say ‘I am looking for a big man.” I started giggling. Becca did a little, too. Then, when I looked at the vocab sheet to respond to her, I looked at the wrong word and instead said aloud, “I am looking for a bad man.” The teacher looked shocked. She goes “WHAT?! YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BAD MAN?! Ohh ne ne. I asked you to say I am looking for a big MAP.” Oops. Becca heard her incorrectly, too, so it wasn’t just me.

In case you were wondering how to say it, it is “Hledam spatnou muz.”

Last night was Maggie’s birthday, so most of us went out to dinner at Ordinary World. I got this spinach and broccoli bowl that made babies cry because of how delicious it was. Next, we split up and some of us headed to the Old Town Square for a music concert we heard about. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was already over (but it was only 9:30pm. BOOO). That didn’t stop us from having a good time. I made a new friend named Michael. He was Czech and Sketch. Just kidding mostly about the sketch part because he was really funny. The first thing he said to me was, “Hi, I love you.” Sorry Dad, I couldn’t help myself from finding the man of my dreams.

Anyways, he convinced us to follow him to the Hard Rock Café. We followed- some were more reluctant than others because we could go to the same bar in America- but it ended up being awesome. At least I had a great time. There was this Czech band doing American rock covers. Imagine “Sweet Home Alabama” with a European accent. Yes, please. At one point, Michael- who had been pursuing both Echo and I throughout the evening- came up to me and said, “Let me buy you a drink.” Of course I obliged, but when we returned with it, he said to me, “I need to tell you something.” I couldn’t handle bad news. I had just found the love of my life and now he was going to admit that he was going to die or something.

Don’t worry, he wasn’t going to die. He just wanted to tell me that he has found the “one,” and it wasn’t me. Hahah, Echo was the “one.” Suddenly, all of my dreams and hopes were crushed and I had to compensate for it by dancing on top of the bar. It was worth it. At one point, Rocio realized that if we left right at that moment and sprinted, we could still make the metro before it closed. This is the climactic moment in the night. Imagine three drunk girls sprinting for dear life in the middle of busy Praha screaming, “METROOOOOOOOOO.” It seemed very dramatic in my memory, at least. We made it just in the knick of time. That, and we made new friends on the metro. I can’t remember their names but they were 29-year-old Spaniards. We talked in Spanish the entire metro ride back and then got invited to their housewarming party in two weeks. Too bad we never got the address…

Um, let’s see. Rocio, Echo and I ended up having intense conversations about life, etc on the way back after we left the Spaniards and then we ended back at the Pension. Hurrah! But the night did not end, no. I was hanging out with Jenny in the computer lounge when I realized I had a friend request from Bryan Brooks! I was really excited about it so I attempted to wake him up to celebrate our new-founded relationship via facebook. I chickened out as I crawled up to his door and started to butt-slide the stairs when I found Matt and Chris!

Chris disappeared, but a handful of 10-year-olds replaced him. I have no idea where they came from, but Matt decided to plow his way through their huddle with a very French, “parrrrdon.” I couldn’t help but die laughing. I’m still laughing just thinking about those 10-year-old children. Hahah who are they?

I am supposed to be in drawing class right now but I was excused from it today since I leave for Paris in 30 minutes. I’m a little guilt-ridden for not going to class for at least a little while since all I’ve been doing in the meantime is blogging. Oh Iris.

I won’t have a computer while I’m in Paris, so I’ll update this bad boy in due time. Au Revouir! (Did I spell that correctly?)

Hezky Cesky

I went to Cesky Krumlov this weekend and it has got to be my favorite weekend, yet. (There's only been 2, but still...)

On our way to Cesky Krumlov, we stopped at the Hluboka Castle. It was quite the fancy establishment. There were rooms where almost all of the woodwork was heavily carved. After the tour, we had about an hour to kill so Jenny and I found some views and awkward people. We had a picnic in a bizarre location. We weren't allowed to eat on the bus and we weren't allowed to eat on the tables beside the bus unless we bought food, so we ate around the corner of a building, facing the bathrooms. Romantic, I know.

We were waiting around for everyone to meet up on the bus when I noticed that the bus beside us was filled with older people and they were all drinking in the parking lot. On the other side of us were a bunch of creeper kids trying to mack on my roommate. I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to make some older friends. So I just bebopped off the bus and asked the closest woman what she was drinking. She didn't speak english well, but she offered me some. I couldn't say neh. That's just rude. So I drank what I believe was plum vodka. It took a hot second for the couple I was attempting to adopt as my pseudo parents abroad to warm to me, but when they did it was golden. They were raving about the most beautiful city in the world, Bled, where they are from in Slovania. I took their word for it and not only did they end up writing down directions on how to get there, but they gave me their number to visit them. I'm not going to, but I'm going to keep that sheet for the memory box. They were being rushed back onto the bus, and I heard my bus rev up a little, so we parted ways and I got back on the bus for another hour long journey.

The next place we went to was the Budvar (Czechvar in the states) Brewing Factory. It wasn't as exciting for me as the Castle, but we got beer halfway through! I enjoyed my delicious unpreserved cup of beer, and then I enjoyed Brian's delicious unpreserved cup of beer because he doesn't like it. I was practically drunk when I left that place and it was barely 3pm! I'm mostly kidding, but I was enjoying myself. I noticed the smells of the factory and honestly, I didn't really like it. Most of the people where raving about it, but I wasn't feeling it.

We went back to the bus and drove another 45 minutes to get to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is in the mountains of the Czech Republic and it is just as beautiful as Praha. The weather was weak sauce this weekend, but that's okay because I still managed to get some hot shots.

As soon as we got dropped off, we had to hike through the city to get to our hostel. Luckily, we decided to visit on the weekend of the St. Wenseslas Festival that celebrates the 700th anniversary of the day that Cesky Krumlov first appeared in literature (therefore, the oldest record of the city, since no one knows how old it is). So everyone was dressed in medieval clothing, performing folk dances and singing. It was AWESOME! We climbed through the crowds of dancing medieval locals and then ended up at the coolest hostel called Krumlov House. It's owned by Americans and the place is really quaint. There were 6 of us in one room beside a living room that was filled with board games, movies, and musical instruments. There was a kitchen beside that and then another room filled with 6 of the guys. There were another 8 people upstairs. The rest of the group stayed at a hostel up the hill.

We freshened up and then went to dinner at Satlava, a medieval restaurant that served giant slabs of meat. It was absurd the amount of food that everyone consumed. I ate a tuna steak and it came with a potato pancake (aka potato lakte) and then enjoyed 2 more beers. After dinner, everyone sort of split up unintentionally. I ended up with Becca, Douglass, and Matt and we skipped to the Music Bar. The beer was expensive by Czech's standard, 50 crowns, so we sat in cool airplane chairs, ordered one beer, and then dipsetted. When we left, we ran into a couple other people who were heading to the "Hrozen Dance Club." We were going to join them but it looked real sketchy and there was a 50 crown cover- not worth it. I'm glad we didn't end up going because the guys collecting the cover was a scam and it ended up being a strip club (we know this because two of the girls from our program went and got harassed.) Sketchy McSketcherson.

We grabbed beers in the main square where there were still booths up from the festival. While we were there, a couple Austrians started talking to us. We bonded with them for a bit but at one point, Matt and I went to the booth to get our beer and left Becca talking to them alone. When we turned around, one of the Austrians looked uncomfortably close to Becca. Before Matt could get a beer, we left in order to avoid our own harassment adventure. Two high fives for Matt.

We were meandering around a bit to find a new place to drink, but the town shut down. I mean it was maybe 10:30 and there was no one out. We took our beers back to a lookout place that we pass on our way to the hostel. We sat there on the ledge, looking out on the view, while having deep conversations about life, etc. It was really nice. As we sat there in heavy discussion, we heard other Americans. We shouted to them "where are you from?" and it ended up being the NYU Prague program. We met about 6 of those kids. It was ironic that we ran into them at Cesky Krumlov because we study and live right next to them in Prague. After getting to know them a bit, we decided to go back to the music bar and I am so glad we did. It was a lot of fun. We got two more beers there and the music was epic. I'm talking quality. Michael Jackson, Enrique, and the climax of the night was when the dj played "It's Raining Men." There were more men dancing to that song than women. It was mostly Becca, Matt and I, alongside the NYU kids on the dance floor... but then there was Carlos/Michael/Short Dancing Man. We don't know what his name was or where he was from because he told all of us something different. He also told me that he was 25. I salsa-danced with him- or something. I don't really know what kind of dancing we were doing, but I was having a great time doing it. He kept yelling "Nastravi!" which means "cheers" in Czech. So everyone would hit glasses. After the 2oth time, someone hit the top of my bottle and it exploded. I tried to drink it as it exploded, but instead, it went up my nose and all over my jacket. I was bummed, so I didn't join in the cheers anymore.

It was a great time. We ended it by sitting at a table and chatting some more with the NYU program. Becca and I went to the bathroom and attempted to bond with a Czech girl but she was embarrassed because there were people having sex in the bathroom stall hahah. It was funny. We left right after that and when Matt, Becca, and I got back to the hostel, Becca had the brilliant idea to mix up the shoes. I should preface that with every time we went into the hostel, we had to take our shoes off at the door. So, with the shoes that we left there, Becca rearranged them. Matt helped a little too, I guess.

The next day we had completely to ourselves- no itinerary. Most of us are in the drawing class and our homework for the weekend was to sketch something in Cesky Krumlov, so Becca and I went to the festival for a bit, ran into Art, and then the three of us found a cafe right on the river to sketch. I sketched a mean bridge with some intense perspective.

Afterwards, we ran into Beth and all 4 of us went to lunch at a restaurant right across from the river where we sketched. It was freezing this day and there wasn't any room inside so we ended up on the terrace. It was a bit chilled. I was wrapped in a blanket and enjoyed a salad and wine. When we finished, Beth went to go explore some more and we found Matt so the four of us decided to go up to the castle and look around.

We found a bear. Apparently, Cesky Krumlov is known for it's bears in moats. Yeah, I don't know. I think he might have died the next day because he wasn't moving.

We kept walking and we also found a huge garden. Oh geez, it was beautiful. There were flowers, and suggestive statues, and Harry Potter Hedge Mazes, and a pond complete with lilly pads! I almost believed in religion after walking through the park.

We walked back down through the town and stopped to get tea on the way. When we got back to the hostel, we relaxed for a little while, then headed out to dinner. There was a relatively large group of us about to go to one restaurant, so Jenny and I separated and found a pizzeria. While we were enjoying our meal, this homeless lady came up to the window and starting yelling at Jenny and I. She only spoke Czech so it made it scarier that I didn't know what she was yelling about. The next thing we know, she's beating up a street sign and crying. What the!?

Well, we finished our meals and went to the main square to enjoy some sweet Czech jazz. I tell you what, we found a gem with this band. The main singer was doing the robot to jazz music, and he whistled like a train. We enjoyed it until we ran into a group of us heading to a bar/art gallery/thumb museum/potential pot factory. I don't think this place has ever seen so much business before because the entire program ended up there and we were the only ones there.

Anyways, as the description suggests, there were wax thumbs everywhere. It was either really creepy or really cool- I haven't decided yet. Everyone was over-stimulated by the experience. We stayed there for awhile, then headed back to the hostel. Becca, Matt, BrianBrooks, Jenny, and I found this game called "What Were You Thinking?" and we had a hoot with it. I don't recall how long we played for, but it was the majority of my evening. It was nice that we took over the entire hostel because we weren't disturbing anyone with our mini-house party that took over when everyone got back from the creepy thumb place (I just decided it was creepier than cool). We ended the night with intellectual drunk conversations.

The next morning was roughhhh. We woke up around 8:30 to go on a tour of the Baroque theatre. I think I would have enjoyed it more if a. it was later in the morning or b. the tour guide didn't remind me of a corporate training video. I was either falling asleep while leaning against a wall, or giggling at the flux of the tour guide's voice in dramatic places even though she was showing minimal emotions. Underneath the stage was legit, though. I wish I could have appreciated it more. There were wheels and pullies used to change the set.

We had about 4 hours to kill before it was time to leave Cesky Krumlov, so I went around with Jenny. I had a perfectly nerdy day. We walked into a pottery store and I fell in love with the idea of living off of pottery dishes. I found the perfect Christmas present there for a certain brother and then we left. While we were walking around, I found a bookstore and wanted to peek in to find "The Alchemist." I FOUND IT. I wish you could have seen my excitement because I was ecstatic. I noticed that I knew about 45% of the books in the store, too. That made me feel so smart. Thank you English class.

Next, we found an art store and now that I have almost mastered perspective, I decided to buy 5B pencils (haha, I don't know what the 5B means, but that's the pencil that Art gave me to use and you should never question a man named Art when it comes to artistic matters.) I also bought an eraser and a pencil sharpener that had a skull and bones decoration and the word "Kumpirates" on it (hehe).

We went back to the square where there was a quality symphonic band. I started to dance enthusiastically and it caught on. We were swing dancing. It was silly. We also met Austrian's in square earlier that day. One of them told me I had beautiful eyes. I was flattered, but I was more flattered when we ran into them talking to a couple of people we knew and when we went up to them, they called me pretty eyes again. I didn't have a good nickname for them, so I called them pretty Austrian's. They were very drunk and very boisterous- made me feel like I was home. (Just kidding, family.)

I don't want to write anymore so I'll finish up by telling you that we obviously made it home safely on a DANK bus. It felt like an airplane with the kind of service we were getting. If anyone travels around Europe anytime soon, please take the student agency bus. That is all I have to say about that.

I will post pictures to add to the stories tomorrow.

Osm!

To my loyal followers,

I may drop the ball on this next blog. I am so tired and have many adventures ahead of me this weekend, so this will be an abbreviated version of my past day.

I don't even know where to start. I guess last night after I blogged, I attempted to make dinner. It was not an attractive meal so I didn't take a picture of it, but it tasted DANK. It was actually pretty fun making it because I blasted music from the lab and sang along while cooking. No one was in the main hut with me so I jammed out relatively hardcore. Actually, at one point in particular, I was singing my heart out to some good ole Avril Lavigne (that woman just speaks to my soul) when Echo walked in. I didn't hear her because the music was loud, but it scared me silly.

Well, I'm very proud of my delicious accomplishment. I didn't head out until about 8pm, and people were still working on their studio projects. I didn't expect to see anyone back at the Pension. I changed into my "holy cow" boxer shorts that I've worn since I was 13 years old and I started to map out my adventures for the next day when Becca invited me to go out with some others to Puerto Rico again. How could I say neh? I was tempted to rock the holy cow boxers instead of quality clothing, but alas I changed and we left not much later. I guess the original plan was to meet up with the Montana Architect kids at Puerto Rico and then go somewhere else from there, but they never showed up. Instead, we socially drank and enjoyed ourselves once again. We may or may not be regulars at that bar by the end of this.

We didn't go back to the Pension too late. I skyped the rents, enjoyed their wisdom, then slept marvelously. I woke up at 11:30 feeling "refreshed with a renewed strength," if you will, and started on my day.

This day has been a particularly long one for some reason. I had my Czech class. I really enjoy that class- more so than my others. The teacher is fun and creative. I have learned so much. We were talking about possessive nouns, conjugations, etc, when I learned that if you ask for water at a restaurant, it's more proper to say "vodu, prosim" instead of "voda, prosim," which is what I said the other day when I thought I fooled the Happy Hour Pizza place. Therefore, I suspect I didn't have as much tact as I would have hoped. Oh, I learned today that 8 is an awesome number because it's "osm" in Czech. In case you didn't catch on, "osm" is pronounced like "awesome." Yeah, chew that up and eat it.

Anyways, I went directly to my first drawing class today and let me just tell you about that doozy. First of all, I know I mention this on almost every blog, but I am surrounded by architecture students. Therefore, they know how to draw. I hadn't factored that into my decision to take this class. So, when we meandered to our locations and our teacher told us to sit and draw for an hour and a half, I was set up for failure. I stared at my 35 cent Tesco notebook that's geared for small children, my pencil accompanied by a sharpener, and my dignity, and gave my first attempt to drawing. See, I decided to pursue the trumpet in high school, not the craft of the hand. Thus, when the teacher approached my work and gave it one look, I thought that she had just seen a ghost. She said to me, "Iris, do you know anything about perspective?" I knew a little but honestly, it didn't even cross my mind when I began, so I said, "neh." She said, "I can tell." She gave me one hell of a perspective lesson and then told me to start over. I have to say that I am extremely proud of my second attempt. It looked a whole heck of a lot better than the first one.

After an hour and a half, we got up and switched locations to draw another building for an hour. I was about to sit down and give it another go when the teacher came up to me and said, "Iris, please concentrate on only perspective when you draw this time." So, I cozied up to a large building with a plethora of windows and I drew perspective like I've never drawn perspective before (which I hadn't, so it wasn't too hard to accomplish.) I have to say that I did one heck of a job on this drawing, but it didn't look very interesting because it was just a bunch of windows.

I don't really know what other skills I can pick up now. I plan on practicing before I fall asleep tonight. I refuse to suck at it forever.

After drawing class, everyone was starving or sore or tired. Personally, my head was throbbing from concentrating so hard. A few of us decided to hit up a restaurant called The Two Bears. It wasn't the good, but it was definitely an exciting atmosphere. They were brewing their own beer right behind us. Meanwhile, we could hear an accordion and tuba from around the corner. It was "osm."

So, we finished dinner and headed over to a jazz club called AghaRTA (I don't know why gha isn't capitalized) where there was an older group performing. Wow, I tell you what, Wow. They were talented. I was so tired from my day though that I had to leave after the second intermission.

And now, I am here. The Swedish teacher that I bonded with a couple nights ago keeps walking past me and making small talk. He thinks I am always studying with my computer and I let him think that because it makes me look smarter. Oops, he just caught me in the act. He said "Wait a second, that's not homework."

I am going to Cesky Krumlov this weekend with the entire program. We are leaving tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, so I should go to bed. now. But first, I will practice perspective drawing...

Neh Neh Neh

I just had the best lunch.

I had a History of Fashion class earlier this afternoon, which was long and boring, but afterwards I had an hour and a half to kill before Philosophy. So, I wandered off in the direction of the Old Town Square and I found this place that had a Pizza Happy Hour. I went in, ordered some drink that was the size of my fist, re-ordered water, then my pizza. The reason I am telling you this is because I DID IT ALL IN CZECH.

Oh my god, this is not a drill. I convinced the shit out of the waiter that I was Czech! I cannot express how excited I am. I even ate my pizza with a fork and knife just to reiterate the possibility that I may not be a foreigner. And let me tell you- that's not an easy task to accomplish. My pointer finger really hurts now.

At one point, a woman walked past my table and pointed to my Freud philosophy book that I've been carrying around Prague in hopes that I will all of a sudden get an overwhelming urge to read it (but let's be honest, how many times do you get an urge for Freud?). Anyways, homegirl said something in Czech which I just assumed meant, "Do you enjoy Freud?" I giggled and shook my hand to mean "ehhh..." I even said "neeeh" (meaning "no") She laughed and walked away. As my friends at school would say, "BUCKETS!" I convinced another!

Which brings me to another observation I had while I was at Pizza Happy Hour. I heard the Ketchup Song for the 6th time since I've been in Prague. I swear, if I hear it one more time, I will stand up, declare that I am, indeed, not Czech, and then do the folkdance like it's the last Shabbat at camp. I get a little flustered every time I hear it because I just want to dance. I wish I had urges like this for Freud, instead- it would be more productive.

I guess I should update you about the rest of yesterday because it was pretty exciting.

The metro was closed for some reason another. I assume it was because someone jumped. (I have to edit this line. See, at first I was kind of teasing because no one would automatically assume that someone just jumped in front of a metro. I thought that there was some construction going on or perhaps they needed to clean the tracks, I don't know. Today, we found out what actually happened-- someone did jump. I feel really guilty for assuming that it was such an absurd idea. RIP Metro Jumper.)

So, I had to take the tram. No big deal, right? Especially because I have already mastered the tram system. Oh neh, neh, neh.  I had a feeling that it might be an adventure, so I got dinner beforehand at Bohemian Bagel. The food selection was dank and it was actually pretty American, aka free tap water, english menus, etc. I may be visiting there often as well. I got really nervous about what to do with my dishes when I was finished, though. In most places, you can just leave your plate on the table and walk away, but I didn't want to be that obviously rude American, so I tried to watch another table to see what they would do. It didn't help because I was in a completely isolated section of the restaurant. Of course. I stood up, admitted my un-czech-ness, and dropped my plate off at the front.

Afterwards, I took my loyal Freud book and went on my way to find the tram stop. I have no idea where I ended up, but the tram I needed was not going to be stopping there. I studied the tram stops for a good 20 minutes until I recognized that Tram 5 was going to Flora, which sounded familiar. I hopped on it, went all the way to the Prague slums (which, in comparison to American slums, it's rather sophisticated), then got off at Flora. It took approximately 30 minutes to get there. I hopped off, and jumped onto the tram I needed to find that I was only going 2 stops further. Another successful adventure.

When I got back to the institute, I was so mentally exhausted from that, that I expected not to go out, but Jed advised to not let fatigue keep me from enjoying myself. Therefore, when I was invited to go back to Puerto Rico with a group, I couldn't say neh.

To sum up, I got drunk for the first time in Puerto Rico, scratch that- Prague. It was great. Good beer, good company, yayyyyy

I was in a rush when I finished the last sentence because I had my first Philosophy class and I didn't want to be late. But last night was a lot of fun. Most of the group I was with got distracted by a group of Architecture students from Montana, but those that didn't, aka Matt, ended up being my entertainment for the night. Actually, Art was there for awhile too but I have no idea when he left. He never says goodbye, he seems to just disappear. When we got back to the Pension, I was saying some of the most spazzed out things. The whole experience vaguely reminded me of freshman year. Ahhh, memories.

The Philosophy class was okay. Again, it was very long, but most of the conversation we had was about how Media is one present-day myth. I felt a little silly because I'm a media major and so at first I was keeping quiet, but then I brought some of my fancy media knowledge on the table, into what I like to call "pressing questions." Ba-dum-cha. The final thought that our teacher left us with was about how you can never enter the same river twice. That reminded me of the book I didn't get to finish over the summer, "The Alchemist." So, since class ended, I've been trying to find an english bookstore where I could possibly locate that book.

I'm not very hungry now since I didn't want to give away the fact that I'm not Czech earlier by asking for a box to take home. Therefore, I devoured the pizza during Pizza Happy Hour. But, I went over to the Country Life Grocery Store to get some staples to keep at the Institute. It's weird that I am down on the main floor with just one other person (and this chick that's doing an independent study) because I went upstairs to look at the library and it was POPPIN' up there. I'm a little envious that I get so much privacy.  Anyways, the moral of the grocery store story was that I am going to attempt to become good at cooking while I'm here. It will become one of my primary goals. Mom- send me recipes (is that considered cheating?) No seriously, though. I just bought what I think is seasoned tofu, tomatoes, multi-grain noodles, and soy sauce? Any ideas what I could whip up with that? I'll take a picture of the creation I eventually make.

"English?"

These two days haven't been incredibly blog-worthy but I have nothing better to do right now than update you.

I didn't start classes like everyone else yesterday because the one class that I did have was cancelled. Instead, I decided to go to the area of the institute and see what I could find. The best thing I have found in the past two days is a restaurant called Country Life. It is a vegetarian restaurant so it was nice to finally be able to enjoy anything! It may become my staple here because it was really healthy and came to about $4.

It's typical in Czech for strangers to join your table if there is space, so I got to experience that for the first time. Homegirl straight up looked at me, then the chair, gave me a little eyebrow wiggle and sat down. I was excited that she was enjoying her meal with me as if I am also a Czech, that was until she tried to talk to me. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "english?" She laughed and went back to her meal so I hope she didn't originally make fun of Americans or something haha yikes.

Which reminds me, the same thing happened to me while I was in Tesco. Tesco is like the Wal-Mart of Prague. I had to get notebooks, so as I'm perusing the kid school supply section, this manly creature with defined features approached me and asked me a really fast czech question. I said, "english?" Then, I batted my eyes. He said, "Dutch?!" I said, "uh.. english?" he said, "where do I buy my panties?" ... Granted, he wasn't actually holding panties, they were more like briefs, but I pointed to the checkout lane and shrugged off regardless.

I had my first class today and it was the Czech language class. I am really excited about it because the professor is really enthusiastic and fun. I learned how to read Czech today. So now, when you come to visit (yes, you- aka all of my friends. come here. now.) I'll be able to read you the names of places, street signs, beer names, etc. I also learned my first sentence in Czech:

 "Ten kluk je hezky."  It means "That guy is good-looking." Just the basics, you know.

After class, I tried to take the tram back to the Pension, but traffic was so bad that I just jumped off at some random stop. It just so happened that the random spot was somewhere I had been before! Petrin hill! So, I took the funicular halfway up, then walked down to where there were people sitting on the grass. I popped a squat underneath a tree and god, the view was to die for. I read my Philosophy book (you know, the one I should have been reading this whole summer), but I kept getting distracted with people watching. I tell you one thing- Czechs have no shame when it comes to PDA. One couple was so hot and steamy that I was embarrassed when an old couple walked by with their cute dog.

I don't know if I mentioned that dogs here don't have to be leashed and therefore, they are EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere. Grocery stores, department stores, metros, the lobby at the Pension. However, they are city dogs so they are trained really well. Thus, Czechs hate it when you pet them. It's counterproductive in their training apparently. It's like the forbidden fruit, though. Since I can't pet the dogs, I want to more. Today, I was walking in the metro station and it was really crowded and someone pushed me up against a wall. At first, I thought I was getting robbed. Then, I thought I was getting raped. Finally, I realized that a dog was just trying to get by- it was a big dog. hahahah

I stopped somewhere to get a coffee and enjoyed the sunset outside (today was 70 degrees!!). I found a Cosmo magazine in Czech- that was pretty cool. I enjoyed it (I couldn't understand it, but I could read it aloud if you needed me to :-)

As of right now, I'm planning on going to Scotland for Fall Break. I was going to try to go to London too, but it would be waayyy too much traveling in one weekend. Right now, I could have a layover for like 10 hours in london, then go up to Glasgow, (stay for a night?), take a bus to Edinburgh (stay with RaJa!), then back to Glasgow, layover in Manchester, then home to Praha. Yeah, if any of those places come close to you, holler at me. I'm looking for people to play with.

Welp. see ya later.

All you need is love...

GAHHHHHH. AM I IN HEAVEN?!? Yes, Yes I am.

I went to Petrin hill today which is known for being a huge park on a hill. At the very top is a mini-eiffel tower that you can see from any point in the city. I left the pension with Echo and Becca and we took a new route to get across the river. I found beautiful shots. It’s nice being here with architects because they force me to appreciate the city even more.

We took the funicular up to the first stop on the hill. From there, we climbed up to the top and it was quite the hike. It was so worth it, though, because we found gardens and paths that made me giddy. We found a gate that led to a secret garden (just like the book!!). I couldn’t help but adore the elder chillin’ in the garden. I mean- this place is beautiful.

Next, we found a rose garden. I wish I could document the smell because I have never in my life smelled anything this breathtaking. I was taking it all in when all of a sudden my boyfriend came out of nowhere and passionately kissed me. Little did I know that someone was sculpturing us…

We found the mini-eiffel tower but we didn’t go up because we already had the opportunity to see the view while we were walking up the hill. We found a really tiny stone path downhill and followed it back to the Old City. It was really nice.

We were walking around Kampa when BAM! We found the Lennon Wall! The Lennon Wall is famous because during the Communist era, someone painted a picture of John Lennon on it as a sign of freedom, but the communists covered it the next day. So, that night, the guy painted it again. Alas, it was painted over again. This continued for several nights until a whole group of people came out and decorated the entire wall with Beatle’s quotes, pictures, etc. Now, it’s a major symbol of freedom and peace in Prague. It’s a lot like the Freedom Expression Tunnel, except happier. I have been looking for it for the past few days and we accidently stumbled upon it. This picture is now the background to my computer:

We walked past it to find this gate covered in locks. You write the initials of you and your lover on the lock and then throw the key into the river, symbolizing forever love. I added one that said “IGM & DHH,” which means Iris Gem Maslow & D. H. Hill. I do love D. H. Hill Library a lot, but I am kidding.

We kept walking and found the stairs that were in Mission Impossible. Becca calls them the “Tom Cruise stairs.” Basically, I touched Tom Cruise by walking on them. We walked on the St. Charles Bridge again to get to the Old Town Square for lunch. I don’t know why we keep doing this because the bridge is packed- especially when it is sunny and/or a weekend (it was both today). I am determined to wake up around 7am one morning and go walk on the bridge before it gets freezing here.

We enjoyed calzones in the square and then headed back to the pension since it was pretty late by then. It got a lot colder and cloudier, anyways. When we got back, I walked into my room to find a brand new dresser!! Laura and I were getting miserable in here so I’m glad that we finally got through to them. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and organizing our rooms. I feel so cleansed now that my bag is unpacked and put away. I took one hell of a power nap and then went to dinner with a group of people. I wasn’t hungry from my lunch so I enjoyed two beers instead. When we got back to the pension, a lot of people were already getting ready for bed since class starts tomorrow.

Well, class starts for most tomorrow. The only class I have, Philosophy, was cancelled. Therefore, I will be joining two girls for lunch and then probably spending the afternoon in a park reading my Philosophy book.

No means Yes

Aw man, I wrote a blog for the past two days and unfortunately, the post got erased before I could publish it. Bummmski.

Therefore, I will give you the watered down versions of the stories. I guess I should preface the blog with, the more boring or short the blog is, the more fun I am having here. I am finding it difficult to stop what I'm doing during the day in order to blog about it.

However, I still want to share it with you. This day has been wonderful. Wait- I didn't tell you about yesterday.

So, yesterday I went around with a girl named Jenny. We had a great time wandering and getting lost. To sum up our adventures, we went to the top of Prague, saw an incredible view of the city, and then came back down for lunch. We attempted to ride the daytime Tram for the first time and it was awesome. At first, I admit, I didn't understand why one would take the tram because 1. it takes longer and 2. it's confusing. However, after riding around it successfully, I couldn't help myself from wanting to hop off at every stop to go visit something cool. The stop where we had to switch trams, we found ourselves next to a memorial for those who suffered due to communism. It was an amazing structure. We perused a couple shops and then went back to the Pension.

Once we got back, a couple of us went out to dinner with Art again- this time to a place that featured Gypsy music. This was the best dinner I had yet- and not for it's food. The wine was DELICIOUSSSSS. I had Frankova wine and then something that started with "Modry-." The modry one was better. But, most of all, I had the best company. Everyone there was great and we talked for 4 hours! I didn't realize we spent so much time there. Afterwards, we wanted to stay out so we stopped by the pension to get the others and then went to a bar called Puerto Rico. The bar had a great atmosphere, great drinks (best. mojito. ever.) but it was very crowded- especially when everyone finally arrived. I spent the night bonding with only a few people in order to avoid all that "where am I going to sit?"-stress. But, I'm glad I did because I found out that Matt, one of the guys, really wanted to go to the Jewish Quarter. I was so excited because I thought that no one else would want to go with me. So we made a playdate for the next day.

Around 11:45am, Matt woke Laura and I up. Hahah. Oops. We got ready and Laura, Jenny, Matt, and I headed to the Jewish Quarter. Well, I didn't think about how it was Shabbat- or Yom Kippur for that matter (woops, forgot to fast), and therefore, the quarter wasn't accepting visitors. Buzzkill. We walked around for a bit until we noticed a giant red metronome in the distance. We gandered that way and found 200+ steps to climb. But, alas, we made it to the top only to discover a plaque describing it in Czech that we couldn't understand. So, we turned around and found this awesome park. It was huge and someone told us that it was the largest park in Prague. Isn't that cool? Yes, it is. We found a cute swing and played on it. There was graffiti that said "Fuck Albania." I don't know why Albania should be fucked, but I took a picture of it anyways.

Which reminds me of a funny issue I am having. "Ano" means "Yes" in Czech. But you shorten it to just "no." So, "No" means "Yes" here.  (hehe)

We continued on our journey to discover more views of the city, more weddings, and more statues. Oh! Get this. We were walking around aimlessly until we turned the corner and found a grassy knoll with hawks! and owls! and a giant golden eagle! Of course I took pictures and I held one for a "contribution" of $5. So worth it. That was the highlight of my day! They were on leashes and had a little parch to stand on and a bowl of food. So random, but really awesome.

Laura was starving so we stopped at the first cafe that we found, but it was very overpriced. It was nowhere as expensive as TGI Fridays, but still. We found the metro afterwards and went back to Prague 10. But when we got there, we decided to enjoy the wine festival there. (I don't think it was actually the wine festival because the wine was only at one booth and it wasn't poppin' but, we didn't know what else to call it.) There was weird music, food booths, and of course- alcohol. There was a little shopping, too, but we didn't bother with that. Mostly, we people-watched and drank. There were these blond 5-year-old twins that were a hot mess beside us, but we didn't mind because foreign children are easier to forgive than American children.

I went back to the pension with the others and then took a trip to Alberts, another grocery store. This one was better than Billa because it was cheaper and had more food. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that vegetables are only offered at markets- not grocery stores. Laura and I share a very tiny fridge, so I might have to go shopping closer to the institute and then store everything there. Jacob and I share a fridge to ourselves in the lobby since the studios get their own fridge. I got a few groceries for only $12 (including $1 beers) and then made a sandwich back at the Pension. I felt awkward and out of place for a hot second, but then a group of people came up to the lobby and invited me to go back to the wine festival with them (again, not actually the wine festival.) I tagged along and somehow we got a pretty large group to meet us there. Six of us shared 3 bottles of wine- so 3 cups each, and then moved on to beer. Meanwhile, we also enjoyed a traditional Czech desert called "Trdelik." It's basically barbequed dough dipped in cinnamon sugar and almonds. After a little while, we noticed a group of very drunk people in front of us dancing (dancing is a loose term). They were having so much fun so Matt, Becca, and I joined them. Well, we tried to at least. One group was too drunk to notice us near them, but the other group linked arms with us and we ended up singing the song with them. We asked them what the words meant and the drunkest man replied, "it's about a man who dies and goes up." We said, "up where?" He said, "To heaven!" A few minutes passed and he said, "now we sing about horses." It was silly. We swayed to the music and then did a jig to the other songs. Basically, that was the best part of the night. When the band finished, not only were we grateful because the music taste here is very different, but we drank some more. We noticed one man that was particularly drunk. He couldn't stand up. He would get up and then we would watch him fall like an incomplete football pass. You should have heard us. We went, "OH...oh oh oh oh... OOOOOOOOH"

We walked back to the Pension not long after homeboy didn't walk at all and then we ran into a group from Sweden who were staying at the Pension for a week. Apparently the other half of our group went out with the other half of their group. We bonded for a bit, got more beer, bonded some more and ALAS, I am here.

Things won't be this mellow for long, especially when classes start, but I am really enjoying this city. I could live here forever. It's beautiful and friendly and cheap and ... amazing. I feel as if I am getting more comfortable with the people I'm with, too. It took a bit for me to feel less intimidated by the group since they already know each other but now it's not bad. It reminds me of when a two-weeker comes after the first two weeks of a session.

I started to feel the first pangs of being homesick, but it wasn't bad. There's one girl here that was crying on the first day of being away. I booked a flight and a hostel to Paris in two weeks. The fashion students from my program are going so I asked Dana, the director, if I could tag along and she told me I would be in charge of the flight and hostel cost, but they've got the rest. I get to go to a fashion show in Paris- not bad, huh?

The weekend after that, Oct. 7-10, I want to go to the UK but I haven't figured out plans yet. If you are over there and want to shack me up, let me know :-)

I will add photos to this post eventually. It's hard to because the internet is weak sauce here and I don't want to spend my days in Prague uploading pictures. When in doubt, check the facebook albums.